Tool box upgrade?

[pontoon]

Hi all, I’ve been slowly upgrading my shop setup. I used to store and work on my dirt bike out of a 4x8 storage unit. Then it was a small 1 car garage. Now I’m in a small 2 car garage.

I still have a 30” 5 drawer US General tool cart.



It’s ok but I want more storage and a little heavier duty. When I load up the deep drawer I worry it’ll break. I’m currently over its 80 lbs slide rating.

I have multiple spots where I can put a box. I don’t want to go too crazy on size. I have 49” in one ideal spot, or over 10 feet in another spot.

I’m open to used Snap On or whatever. I like boxes with the lids on struts that pop up on a hinge. No worries about theft, just an avid garage mechanic working on my cars and dirt bikes.

What box should I get?

 

[ddawg16]

I used to have a Craftsman 36" lower and upper....outgrew it pretty quick.

I picked up the HF 44" lower tool cabinet....love the thing. Ball bearing slides....great value.

I don't like their uppers....I want either the Husky or CM upper with the tall top lid. I'm hoping the after sales have the price reduced.

 

[Snapped-off]

So do you want a large tool cart or a rollcab? HF is hard to beat for a home garage.

The used market varies greatly too. I see classic/master series boxes and macsimizers practically free on the east coast, and in SoCal everyone wants more than I could pay straight off the truck. I've been searching for over a year for a used box.

There's also places like Strictly Toolboxes and a few other sites, that sell Montezuma and Extreme. They're limited on colors though. They won't do red boxes so they're out for me.

Also check out the Icon toolbox thread here. They sure look nice, but the display model I checked out the other week had drawer slides that were screwed up.

 

[kbeefy]

I've picked up 2 56" and 1 42" HF box from craigslist for about $400/ea.
They're fine for storage, but I prefer a deeper box to work out of.

You might take a look at the Homak RS Pro line at Napa, I believe they have 24" deep drawers.

I've been using a Sunex 8060 box for a couple years now, it's nice quality and reasonable price between HF and Tool Trucks.

 

[pontoon]

So do you want a large tool cart or a rollcab? HF is hard to beat for a home garage.

I’m not 100% sure on the terminology. I want top to bottom drawers on casters. I like pop tops but I’m ok with a solid metal top as well since it could also be useful to stack a hutch on if I run out of space.

I’m seeing 54” snap on like new for $3k here. The smaller snap on ones closer to 32” are around $1000-$1500.

At Icon prices I would rather buy a gently used Snap On. What’s the best Snap On series for good weight capacity and plenty of shallow, some medium, and one or two deep drawers?

 

[2ndGearRubber]

I’m not 100% sure on the terminology. I want top to bottom drawers on casters. I like pop tops but I’m ok with a solid metal top as well since it could also be useful to stack a hutch on if I run out of space.

I’m seeing 54” snap on like new for $3k here. The smaller snap on ones closer to 32” are around $1000-$1500.

At Icon prices I would rather buy a gently used Snap On. What’s the best Snap On series for good weight capacity and plenty of shallow, some medium, and one or two deep drawers?

https://ultimator.snapon.com

It's more so a function of what is available locally. KRAs are usually the cheapest to find, "classic series". Master series steps up from that, epiq adds more nice features like slightly angled drawers to help them close when loaded. Look at the specs as well. The most common KRL I see is the 722. 54" wide, but only 24 deep. As a general rule, if the box has 4 numbers in the part#, it's 30" deep. So a KRL 756 would be 24, 1056 would be 30 deep. Going from 7XX to 10XX gets you an extra set of 4" drawers.


If the purpose is only hand tools, mechanic style boxes like the snap on models work. If you're going to be storing a circular saw in there, you want a more "homeowner" layout, like the top of the line at lowes/HD.

 

[macgee]

Find a used Lista or Vidmar cabinet, the 60" tall ones can hold a significant amount of tools and is way heavier duty (400lb /drawer) than a Snap-On. They last forever, bomb proof ball bearing drawers. They're 30" deep and drawers can extend all the way out, close with a push of a pinky.

Depending where you're located, buying used is usually a much better deal/price than trying to buy a used Snap-On with less cubic volume.

 

[DeeKay]

For occasional use in a home shop I don't see anything wrong with Craftsman, HF, Milwaukee, Kobalt etc. They all seem to be OK.
I have a PROTO roll cab from back when I was an on-site tech which held up fairly well, after three years of daily use and rolling a couple miles a day it ended up falling apart where the casters bolt in. If I could do it all over again I would have bought a Lista, like macgee said, compared to any other brand you can't beat them for price and heavy-duty-ness.

 

[pontoon]

https://ultimator.snapon.com

It's more so a function of what is available locally. KRAs are usually the cheapest to find, "classic series". Master series steps up from that, epiq adds more nice features like slightly angled drawers to help them close when loaded. Look at the specs as well. The most common KRL I see is the 722. 54" wide, but only 24 deep. As a general rule, if the box has 4 numbers in the part#, it's 30" deep. So a KRL 756 would be 24, 1056 would be 30 deep. Going from 7XX to 10XX gets you an extra set of 4" drawers.


If the purpose is only hand tools, mechanic style boxes like the snap on models work. If you're going to be storing a circular saw in there, you want a more "homeowner" layout, like the top of the line at lowes/HD.

I def won’t be storing circ saws in it. The KRL722 looks pretty good and commonly available. Can I roll it around in my garage to get closer to where I’m working? I was thinking two smaller cabs/carts might be nice to roll 1 near where I work. Unfortunately the nicer small boxes seem very uncommon (epiq cart, master series 35” cab, heavy duty cart KRSC242). It seems the KRSC46/KRSC326 is more common. I’m just not sure I’d be happy with the sturdiness of it. I’m hoping for a nice box that will last a lifetime with no issues.